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Strength & Conditioning is very important for the cornerback position. You require the strength and power to get physical with receivers in press and getting off blocks and the speed to cover any receiver. Football is a game of 4 quarters and the best conditioned players will find the most success. Your strength program should focus on the primary muscle groups used to play football, your lower body. Your hamstrings and glutes are what do most of the work so it's vital that you train them to be as strong and as explosive as possible. You shouldn't neglect the other muscle areas of your body but you should have an understanding of what is relevant to the cornerback position. Strength exercises like squats and deadlifts should be your bread and butter. Working your upper body is also important when it comes to pressing receivers and getting off blocks. Being strong isn't the only aspect of playing the cornerback position, you need to be explosive (especially in the lower body) to get out of breaks with power and also make strong tackles. Olympic lifts are crucial for converting the strength from your squats and deadlifts to the explosiveness you can take into the game. Exercises like cleans, plyometrics and sprints should be heavily incorporated into your workout program. Strength It goes without saying that you have to be explosive to play any position in football. You will never be able to build explosive power without having the strength to begin with. As I said previously your prime movers should be the primary focus of your strength training (hamstrings/glutes). Your go-to exercise should be squats (2x a week minimum) as they not only build your lower body strength but also work your core stability which will translate onto the football field. When squatting, stand feet a little wider than shoulder-width apart, toes forwards, and sit back into the squat until you feel your hamstrings/glutes becoming engaged. At this point, you should drive the bar up while thrusting your hips forward in a powerful motion. Upper-body exercises like bench press and shoulder press will build your upper body to press receivers and be a phyisical tackler. Power Olympic lifts are where you're truly going to develop that explosive power that will translate to faster movement on the field. Cleans should be your bread & butter as you use utilise much of your body in one exercise. You should also incorporate plyometrics into your workouts to improve your body coordination and increase the concentration of the fast-twice muscle fibres that will not only give you game speed but also allow you to move efficiently. Conditioning Remember you are a football player, not a gym rat or magazine model. Footbal is a game of four quarters and you need to perform in all of them. There are various types of conditioning which are all equally important in acomplete cornerback. You need to the mental conditioning to play every snap with confidence and complete alertness. This comes from endless hours working on your scheme and technique to the point where, in game, you can worry less about yourself and focus your energy on reading the opponent. As a cornerback you must learn to have a short-term memory in the sense that, when things aren't going your way, you mustn't let that distract you from using your techniques. You also have the physical conditioning which comes from pushing your natural limits every time you train. When your feel your body trying to slow down during training, you have to push it to instead go faster to build the ability to perform with your backs against the wall. When in scrimmage, chase down every single run or pass from the offence. At first this may be tough but, if you do this every single practice, you will soon feel like you have the ability to run all day long. Anything can happen on any snap of the ball: a running back/receiver can fumble the ball, a pass can be tipped, your teammates can miss tackles, the list goes on. On every single snap of the football, there is a real chance that you can make an impact on the play if you play like you believe it.